UEFA coaching courses setting standards in Europe and beyond
Thursday, March 6, 2025
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Latest events in both Europe and North America demonstrate UEFA's commitment to coaching excellence.
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UEFA doesn’t just organise some of the world's best competitions, we also set the global standard when it comes to coach education and development.
A range of technical programmes, education and support systems implemented throughout Europe's 55 national football associations all ensure that we lead the way when it comes to the technical development of the game, constantly seeking to raise the quality of coaches, and consequently players, across the continent and beyond.
One of these programmes, the UEFA Pro Licence Student Exchange, brought students from across Europe to our HQ in Nyon, Switzerland this week, where they supplemented their on-going studies with three days of discussion, debate and practical sessions designed to take their learning to the next level.
Learning from the best
The latest course convened around 100 students, representing Pro Licence cohorts from Croatia, Lithuania, Scotland, Slovenia and Türkiye, to learn from some of the game's most successful and experienced frontline coaches.
Rafael Benítez, a UEFA Champions League, Europa League and UEFA Cup winner, shared his experiences of creating a high-performance environment and analysed some of the recent trends in the game, with his compatriot Lluís Cortés going into detail on coaching through adversity.
"Football has given me a lot of things, and I want to give something back, so it is very interesting to be part of these courses and to give the new coaches something to think about. It's important to have the motivation to be better, the motivation to learn all the time, and in a structure like this one with UEFA, you have everything in place. – it's very, very interesting to have people from different countries coming and exchanging opinions."
Cortés led Barcelona to the UEFA Women's Champions League title in 2021, and explained how the team used disappointment from losing the 2019 final to spur them onto success two years later.
"It's normal to lose, but to win is more than a scoreline, trophies or accolades," he explained. "That defeat became a victory – it was the turning point from being a good team to being the best team in Europe.
"As a coach, you need to define what success is in your context. Only one team can win the league, so maybe it's promotion, or getting your players ready to go to a better team next season."
Students also learn about the behavioural characteristics that connect the game's top coaches, as well as receiving dedicated advice on protecting their own mental health and well-being when coping with the pressures of elite coaching.
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Opportunities for female coaches
As part of the Pro Licence exchange, we also invite elite female coaches who received UEFA scholarships for their Pro diploma course to join the groups, gaining additional experience to take back to their day-to-day roles.
Elena Sadiku is head coach at Scottish champions Celtic, having led them to a first-ever league championship, and subsequently a debut season in the UEFA Women's Champions League in 2024/25.
Just 31, Elena's coaching career began eight years ago, and she has benefited from UEFA support along the way thanks to financial backing through the UEFA coach development programme for women.
"It's a big part of why I'm sitting here today and why I developed as a coach, because I've been taking those licences, and I've learnt a lot," she explains. "Obviously, that support makes it easier to attract more female coaches into the football world.
"Personally, I want to improve all the time, so official licences and education are important, but things like this where we are exchanging experiences, knowledge and challenges, are also how you learn and how you grow, and this is going to be very valuable for all the coaches here."
Sharing expertise beyond Europe
At the same time, over in the United States, we were also working alongside Concacaf at a kick-off event to strengthen coach education structures within North and Central America, as well as the Caribbean.
Through the newly launched UEFA Together programme, which works alongside our sister confederations to develop the game around the world, we will support Concacaf over a three-year period through sharing European best practices and developing strategies that enhance their Pro Licence programmes. This builds on a coach education relationship between the two confederations that began in 2014.
UEFA's updated Coaching Convention
From grassroots to elite football and futsal, setting the highest standards for male and female coaches is a prerequisite for developing better players and raising the quality of European football and futsal ever higher.
Since 1998, the UEFA Coaching Convention has set a common benchmark for how our member associations educate and develop coaches. Regularly updated to keep pace with the latest trends and developments in the game, the convention's 2025 edition now includes ambitious, explicit targets designed to ensure greater diversity and representation in the coaching profession, to better serve both women’s football and women in football.